I flew an airhogs little indoor heli at my neighbors house tonight and my son just LOVED chasing it around. I have a ton of RC trucks, but nothing for the air...SO...that why im here.

Looking for something simple and easy to fly, yet durable as my 3 yr old will chase it down and will eventually catch probably. The little airhogs was made of foam i think and he batted it down a couple times with no damage at all.

I know I can get one of those at Target for like $25, but I know there has got to be something much better out there for a comparable price. And maybe even something I can have a spare battery or two for, cause I know these little guys only last no more than 10 mins tops.

I would recommend a Syma s107. You can find them all day long for under $30 and they are a whole lot nicer flyer than an airhogs. Also there are replacable parts available, which is a no go on most of the airhogs stuff. Flight time is about 6 minutes per charge.
If you want to go a little nicer with exchangable batteries for more flight time you can probably pick up a 4 ch RTF blade mcx here on the forums for super cheap (less than $50). Here's a new one (the knockoff version, same thing) from HobbyKing:http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=11061

It's on backorder right now, but these can take a pretty good beating along with the s107 I mentioned above.

Funny you bring that up. That was my only question/concern. I know an airhogs heli isn't as good as many/most others. But it has some very good qualities, like being made of foam and being simple to fly.

I feel like I have to follow your advice, with a name like "indoorheli" and 3,431 posts, you have to know SOMETHING about this topic. LOL

Most heli's are now moving to the metal body. They think more bling means people are more drawn to it. As for the Syma s107 I can tell you from my experience along with many, many, many others that it is the easiest helicopter to fly period! It's scary how stable it is. There are many people including myself that have 100's of flights. The Syma s107 is the #1 selling "toy grade" (nicer than any toy grade helicopter you'll find in a local store) helicopter ever and there is a reason for that. There's also a thread here on the forums dedicated to the Syma s107 that's almost 600 pages long that can answer all of your questions. I'm not trying to sway you by any means, just saying I think you will be happy with it for what you want.

Now it has a downfall. The batteries are not interchangeable. BUT there is not a single toy grade helicopter out there that has interchangeable batteries. Theres not a single one. All of them including all of the ones on the link have soldered batteries that have to be charged by plugging the whole helicopter into the transmitter or a USB port. Also most toy grade heli's don't have parts available to replace, but the S107 does.

In order to get interchangeable batteries you must go hobby grade helicopters. They're going to cost you a little more but that's the only way you will be able to have a helicopter with interchangeable batteries. The recommendations for those would be the Blade MCX or Nine Eagles solo. They're all plastic but a much higher quality product. They are 4 channel so you can do more but will also be a little harder to fly (but they're still fairly easy) You can find them used on here for some pretty good deals.

I'm not a know it all by any means, in fact I know very little. I'm just trying to give you insight from my experience and want to help you get what you're really wanting.

jlcamp7, that is exactly why I posted here. You may, as you say, not know it all...but you know a heck of a lot more than me. And I VERY much appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experiences.

I know more than I ever wanted to know about brushless trucks, but these helis are foreign to me.

With that being said and the your comments about an entry level "hobby grade" heli, that may be more of what I want. I would be willing to go into the $40-$50 range if that could get me a used entry level hobby grade heli. I mean, ive got a very nice charger already, and plenty of knowledge of the rc electrical systems...just none directed towards flying.

Now, heres kicker. I dont want to start down the path of getting something that makes me cringe if (when) my son bats it out of the air. Because that WILL happen. It happened with that airhogs at least 5 times last night and nothing broke. If things do break, fine...the goal isn't for my son to hit the heli every time I fly it, but I know it WILL happen. And I just want something that will fly and can handle a couple slaps from my little "king kong" lol.

This has turned way more into a discussion than a Wanted/For Sale ad. But anyway, with that info ive added. Is the Syma the way to go? It seems like it is...Just to "keep it simple" instead of it turning into something that becomes my toy that i dont want to risk damage.

I dunno what to do...but for the price and the rave reviews, it seems like the Syma s107 is probably the way to go...Hell, maybe TWO syma s107's is the way to go?

I just know that its hard to get outside having a 3yr old and TWO 15 month olds, so if we can all have a laugh inside with a little heli...GREAT. Cause my 4x4 Stampede with a little Castle MMP and 2400kv motor has only be run for 15 mins total since it got its new power plant.

I had two of the syma's as well they just didnt do what it thought they would compared to the plastic versions i have bought, though maybe my expectations were higher than they should have been. I have had lots of 3 channel heli's and while the metal smya are decent and stable I wouldnt purchases another one when comparing them to the many other 3 channel heli's i have purchased. As was said none have replacable batteries for the 3 channel versions.

But like jlcamp said if you want to spend a little more money and get a four channel there are many benefits along with more control. the coaxles are nice and stable but you can also get one of the single blade offset flybar models that are just as durable and pretty stable. I would be more inclinded to purchase Blade products over solo pro as more hobby shops cary blade heli's. Aloso Blade procuts have one of the best warranties. The Blade mcx and the msr are great beginner 4 channel helis and you can get both from $70ish to $120 RTF and is what you should get if you have extra funds.

I used to fly my msr and my son would chase it around he loved it and his favorite part was seeing it crash. It is very resilient and my coworkers have flown them full speed into shelves and walls with most of the time no damage. It is also very cheap to repair if damage does happen
here is a msr in flight showing it can move quick when you want it but it can also be flown very slow for small indoor flights. Great thing about an msr is it can hover hands off.

I just know that its hard to get outside having a 3yr old and TWO 15 month olds, so if we can all have a laugh inside with a little heli...GREAT. Cause my 4x4 Stampede with a little Castle MMP and 2400kv motor has only be run for 15 mins total since it got its new power plant.

Wow twins they have to keep you busy! I have a 2 and 5 year old. Both love the heli's Course they also like the outdoors chasing my Savage flux around

My little girl actually started crawling for the first time attempting to chase after my Blade MSR.

Ugh...i knew this would happen. Starts with a POS airhogs and now I want an MSR.

Yeah, the twins are the only reason I even have ANY RC's. I have always raced 1:1 scale cars and then quads and then the day I found out about the twins...I sold my quads and drag car. So RC is not only scale in size but scale in time investment. So its really been almost a therapy for me to keep my sanity with the amount of time the twins demand.

One of the girls has been walking for a couple months but the other just started last week. But last night she was almost running to try and get that heli.

And yes...all the neighbor kids LOVE my pede. They setup the plastic skateboard ramp and then come get me to see how many kids I can jump over. LOL I CLEARED 9 kids laying down with the stock system and 3s. I think we might run out of kids for the new 2400kv. LOL

SO...Who has a cheap MSR for me? I could trade a nice Traxxas Brushless system for it

I agree with indoorheli if you do go hobby grade I would choose the eflite blade products. I personally have no experience with the nine eagles stuff, just trying to throw out options. Most hobby shops carry Lots of parts for the MCX, msr, mcx2 and mcpx. I think the mcx might be your best bet for hobby grade because you can pick them up used here on the forums for cheap($40-50, maybe less). The MSR is gonna be a little more learning curve as fixed pitch is a little tougher. Not saying it's a bad move( I just picked up a used one here on the forums because I really missed having mine to fly around the house), just not sure if you're really looking into learning as much as just having fun. The nice thing with a blade mcx or msr is you can run to the hobby shop and replace something when it breaks.

Sorry if we're getting you in too deep from your original request.

Just be careful! I started with a $20 heli from JC Penney I got for Christmas two years ago and the next thing you know I'm flying a Walkera cb100 with about $150 worth of upgrades. These little heli's are addicting!

If you're thinking about buying two s107s I would maybe suggest to just go ahead and get a MCX for the same price. They're pretty durable and more fun since you have 4 channels instead of 3, plus you can switch out batteries to keep the swatting from king kong coming. Lol

After posting just read your post. See you already have the bug and you don't even have a heli yet. It's dangerous I tell ya.